Rabbit News & Awareness

Let the info hop to you!

Tag: Camp Nibble

Ok – so we know McVities put profits before people (see the recent round of redundancies just before Christmas time) but apparently they don’t care much for animal welfare either.

Their NEW Christmas ad is out and storming the world as the cutest thing of all time.

McVities Promoting Rabbit Cruelty

This ‘cute’ commercial shows puppies, kittens, bunnies, ducklings and more all looking festive. So what’s wrong with that I hear some say…

Firstly – advertising sweet, baby critters at Christmas time is a sure fire way to get kids in the mood for a new bundle of joy. Xmas lists all over the world will now have livestock added to them (and some Santa’s will have to search very hard indeed for a baby narwhal).

ANIMALS ARE NOT TOYS!

None of the good charities, rescues or veterinary organisations recommend giving pets as presents. In most cases – its a one way ticket to the rescue shelter in the New Year.

Dont Give Pets as Gifts

Secondly – the handling of these poor creatures is awful. Forced to lay on their backs, held by children, wearing clothes and sat in tea cups – do I need to say it again…ANIMALS ARE NOT TOYS! This will ultimately result in some kids (and adults) trying to mis handle their pets to re create a cute photo moment. Stressful for the pet, not fun and not cute.

This nicely leads me on the the third biggest problem. The rabbit. Cute? Yes. Fluffy? Yes. Lots of ‘pester power’ from the children to buy one? Yes. should you buy one? NO!

Rabbits do not make good pets for kids. Period. This particular commercial shows the baby bunny forced to lay on its back on the child’s lap. This is actually called ‘Trancing’ or ‘Tonic Immobility’. It is a hugely stressful state for the rabbit. As a prey species, they pretend to be dead when they think they are being attacked by a predator. They lay there, frozen in fear, heart racing and fearing their death. Still think its cute? Studies have proven that their stress hormone levels also increase at this time (blood cortisol levels). The Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund have been tirelessly fighting to get the right info out into the public space to STOP people from handling rabbits this way. This TV ad has successfully put back all their good work by years! Every filming should have a welfare officer on duty to ensure all animals are treated correctly – I wonder if they had one and if so…I wonder what qualifications they hold as clearly many animals were mishandled here.

And lastly – who wants loads of animal hair on their biscuits anyway?

If like me – you feel the McVities Christmas ad promotes cruel mishandling of animals and encourages the sale of innocent creatures, please consider contacting them to politely let them know. I will be boycotting McVities this year and encourage others to do so. #boycottmcvities

“We can confirm that no animals were harmed in the making of the McVitie’s Victoria Christmas ad. We had a professional vet and handlers on set overseeing all the filming to ensure the welfare of the animals was our top priority. The professionals on set have confirmed that in their opinion the rabbit filmed was absolutely not in a state of tonic immobility or “trancing”; the camera angles used in the filming are clearly misleading. However, we understand that the ad could mislead people into thinking that putting a rabbit on its back is recommended, when this is not the case. We have therefore taken the decision to remove this scene in the ad as soon as we can. We’d like to thank anyone who raised this issue with us and would like to remind the public that they should follow professional advice as to how to best handle animals in specific circumstances including from The Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund – www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk.”

If you live in the UK and would like to stand up for rabbit welfare – please read this post by Dr Daniel Allen.

Pet Nation

The Camp Nibble “code of practice” e-petition closed with an impressive 12,366 signatures. Lets build on this success, and continue campaigning for improved pet rabbit welfare in the UK.

A new 12 month Rabbit Welfare e-petition has been launched by Pet Nation. The e-petition hopes to:

1. unite animal lovers and rescues
2. continue raising awareness about responsible rabbit companionship
3. continue to provide a platform for educating the public
4. help stigmatize the advertising and sale of rabbits as seasonal gifts
5. call for a rabbit code of ethics/practice

If you would be kind enough to SIGN and SHARE with family and friends, it would be most appreciated.

So…firstly its important to NEVER feed a muesli mix style of food as this has been scientifically proven to cause selective feeding, dental and digestive issues. It is also chocked full of sugary stuff and grains that rabbits don’t need in their diet.

But this then leaves us in the sometimes bewildering world of pellets. Which brand? Do I choose the cheapest? Are they all the same anyway?

In general, as with the rest of life, you get what you pay for. In my opinion, Supreme Science Selective are the best extruded pellet available in the UK (Oxbow pellets for people in the USA). They have the highest crude fibre content and no added sugar – along with the correct ratios and percentages of other vitamins and nutrients. A close second is Burgess Excel Adult LIGHT. I specify the light version as this has no added sugar (unlike the regular adult version). The other great thing about these two brands is they offer a life stage option. Basically, rabbits over 4 years old should be fed a ‘mature’ version of the diet which has the percentages and ratios changed to better suit an ageing rabbits needs.

Oh and beware of the term ‘beneficial fibre’…this is a marketing term that makes the fibre content look higher than it is! Its always the crude fibre content that’s important.

At the lower end of the market (and diets I would not recommend) we have Allen & Page and Dodson & Horrell. These were born out of ‘breeder pellets’ and are generally low quality. They are lacking in essential vitamins and the pellet itself does not work the teeth as well as an ‘extruded’ pellet (like the above 2 examples).

As always, the pellet part of a rabbits diet should be minimal – no more than 5% of its daily ration. 80% should be a choice of different good quality hays and 10-15% can be fresh food such as lovely herbs (basil, mint, coriander (cilantro) and parsley) or non root vegetables such as cabbage and kale (be aware that gassy veg for us can also be gassy veg for bunnies).

Lastly, all dietary changes should be made gradually over a 10 day period to minimise the risk of dietary upset.